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Wednesday, October 30, 2013

White marble is the most exquisite stone this season! I haven't stopped hearing about it starting with Balenciaga's new famous print by Alexander Wang to my Introduction of Art course with my genuine teacher in class. Quite pure, sleek, and avant-garde, the marble is a versatile design meant to match the monochrome trend and bring a new twist to our closet this fall. Simple to wear and easy to pull off, the marble print is definitely a must-buy of the season!!!

I am startled in front of these pictures considering the grandeur and the amount of the white "makrana" marble used to build the Taj Mahal entirely.

I am happy of this marble necklace purchase from Bodrum, Turkey, during my vacations. Only, I wish I have gotten another string of the beads to make a longer necklace... Kind of an edgy version of the classical pearl sautoirs.

Love the Balenciaga sneakers, except they are for men. Next time, I wish Alexander Wang considers to make a version for women with compensated heels.

Monday, October 28, 2013

It's been an awful week of exams--little sleep and countless hours of studying. But hopefully, I'm only doing well on my exams. Besides that, my laptop wifi button has decided not to switch on anymore and I hope to change it soon--because fixing it will be a waste of resources, time and money, and eventually I have to change it. Right now, I have a terrible headache and I can't think straight... But anyway let's talk about this outfit.

I believe every girl should have one denim dress, a black crop sweater, and a necklace chain. You can even wear them together, just like I did! Those are kind of wardrobe staples--very practical, easy goers, and simple. I have worn the dress in summer over a million times alone.

My denim dress is from Gap, my sweater from Zara, and I bought my necklace chain from a silver shop when i was in Bodrum, Turkey, for vacay.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Last
Monday, I attended the “Sushilizing” Tweet Up dinner at Maki Gourmet, Beirut,
which was a very successful social media-mingling event. Personally, it was the
first time that I attend such an event and particularly one hosted and
supported by the AUB Online Collaborative team, which I am now a member of proudly—representing
the marketing officer, if you must know.

Concerning
the venue, I can pull two thumbs up, not only is the interior design of the
restaurant really dashing and perfectly fitting for the event, but we also enjoyed
the entire restaurant all for ourselves. Concerning the atmosphere, everyone
present at the dinner was in the best mood to “sushilize” and the background
pop music was cheering us all up even more!

Concerning the food service, it wasn’t
outstanding, needless to say, my first time there was a deception too.
Concerning the Maki, they were one of the best I have really ever had!
Considering the quality of the Maki, the cleanliness, the creative assortments,
the taste and the price, it’s an easy A+ rating. Moreover, they have a dessert
version of Maki with Nutella—delicious! Concerning the drinks and alcoholic if
you may, they were taken care of especially by a tasteful barman yet clumsy—Oups
(Reference to a failed attempt to juggle with a small water bottle). Besides that,
I had an exquisite Passion fruit alcoholic drink and, funny but true, I loved
it to the extent I was in to the last sip that I nearly choked on the fruit seeds,
which dropped to the bottom of the glass.

Concerning
the organization of the event, it was very well thought of and prepared; as you
came in the restaurant, a waitress approaches you to get your name off the list,
gives you a sticker to write down your twitter account, and invites you to sit
down.

Concerning
the tweeting, it was intense with everyone making new acquaintances, following one
another, tweeting about the food, the drinks, the lyrics music, and the whole
night. In addition, the person handling the social media accounts (Instagram, Twitter,
and Facebook) of @MGourmetBei was attending too!—he’s lovely btw.

As we
left, we received a goodie bag that included a menu and a small Nutella pot. A
small Nutella pot covered with a campaign sticker, I would say. Is this an effective
marketing strategy? If Maki Gourmet knows its customers pretty well, perhaps
they believe that we are big fans of Nutella. Therefore, they believe that we
will be using their campaign Nutella pot often. Then, every other morning, will
I be thinking, “I miss it there? Let’s go have lunch or dinner there? I want
sushi?” I don’t know yet, but I’ll definitely update you about that!

Friday, October 18, 2013

I wasn’t going
to blog about it but I figured why not since I have pictures of my outfit and
it was a good one! Two days ago, I went to the opening of Mad nightclub with my
friends. Which day was it? A Wednesday, which means sexy Rn’B music with YOLO (you only live once) theme night—I had a blast! The club even gave out YOLO embroidered caps and
crop tops! I got one of each although I have only pictures with the cap. When I
first saw the waiter with a bunch of them on every arm, I directly headed to
him. I think he muttered something like “you can only choose one”, but I pretended
not to hear him in the loud music and I pulled away both.

Both shirt and
shorts I was wearing were bought from List, luxury retail store at ABC Dbayeh,
the leather shorts brand is Supertrash and the shirt is faith connexion. I was
wearing Saint Laurent black pumps and holding a Marc Jacobs bag.

1- Put in a deep saucepan the Maizena
and half of the sugar. Pour in the milk and the almond milk while whisking. Add
the vanilla aroma and almond essence. Bring to boil while whisking.

2- In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks for 3
minutes to the rest of the sugar. Meanwhile, add one tbsp of milk. Pour in the
mixture into the saucepan and cook while stirring well all the time. Expect the
cream to thicken.

3- As soon as it starts boiling, remove
the saucepan from the heat and pour into a bowl that you place in a large bowl filled
with ice.

4- After two minutes, when the cream
has warmed down, cut the butter into small squares and incorporate them into
the batter, whisking briskly (they will melt into the batter).

5- Add the Grand Marnier.

6- Let cool before
covering with a plastic wrap and transferring to the refrigerator for up to 3
days.

For Baking the Profiteroles

1- Preheat the oven at 200ºC (Th. 6)

2- Pour the water and fresh milk in a
saucepan. Add the salt, sugar, and butter and bring to boil while stirring with
a spatula.

3- Add all the flour at once. Mix
briskly with the spatula until it becomes smooth and homogeneous. When the dough begins to pull away from the
sides and bottom of the pan, continue stirring for another 3 minutes to let it
dry a bit.

4- Place the dough in a bowl and add
the whole eggs one by one, by making sure that the first is well incorporated
into the dough before adding the next.

5- Continue working the dough.

6- Grease a
large baking sheet. Using a piping bag or two spoons, pipe the mixture into
small balls in lines across the baking sheet.

8- Place the baking
sheet into the oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden-brown.

9- Remove from the oven and turn the oven off.
Prick the base of each profiterole with a skewer. Place back onto the baking
sheet with the hole in the base facing upwards and return to the oven for 2 to 5 minutes. The warm air from the oven helps to dry out the middle of the
profiteroles.

Setting
up:

1-When
the profiteroles are cold, pipe the cream into the profiteroles using a piping
bag.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

After
my management make up session at AUB yesterday, I decided to make a stop at the
Bensimon store, in Beirut souks, for a free customization! Actually, you can
bring your own Bensimon pair if you own one or buy at the store the Summer
collection which is on 50% sale—must still find your size though! I didn’t get
my blue denim pair with me so I bought a new pair, and that’s what I advise you
to do anyway. The licensees of Bensimon in Lebanon were participating in the
event, the young couple is here to help you and guide you through the
customization process along with other helpers. You can style your Bensimon
pair with a multitude of accessories—you can see through the pictures. If you
would like to attend the workshop, book now at 01 992 004! They are still open
at Beirut Souks today, from 4 till 8pm! Don’t worry if this last minute didn’t
make its success, you still have the chance next weekend to go to ABC Dbayeh
and the weekend after at Saifi Village!

For
my Ellie Bensimon, I sprayed the sole silver. I also used a black permanent
marker to draw the moustache with the help of a stencil and I painted
glow-in-the-dark stars. Finally, I added some spikes and skull studs, a very
cool button with a satin ribbon and some glitter! I spent 2 hours at the
workshop without feeling the time passing—I really had a blast and I’m so proud
of my beautiful accomplishment!